hi, everybody. welcome to t the "the wall stre journal report" i'm maria bartiromo. the dow breaks through a milestone them nasdaq not far behind. it itime to buy, sell or hold? super tuesday approaches. will it be the final chapter to crown a nominee or the beginning of a long drawn out battle. and hiring, hiring and working in the brave new world and how to make employers want to invest in you the "the wall streetournal report" begins right now. >> this is amica's number one financial news program, "the wall street journal report." now maria bartiromo. >> here's a look at what's making news as we head to a new week on wall street. america's economy is doing better than first thought. the first revision of the gross

domestic product showed group growth a3%3%. that is increase from 2.8%. the gdp is the broadest measure of the strength and size of america's economy. well, after toying with it for days the dow jones industrial average closed above 13,000 on tuesday of this the week. for the first time since may of 2008. though it did not hold later in the week. the nasdaq flirted with a milestone reaching 3,000 on wednesday. the highest level since december of 2000. ben bernanke testified before congress in his semi annual testimony. he made no mention of further easising by ned and said the jo market is still far from normal. consumers opened their wallets in february. store sales up 4.7% over last year giving retailers a head start on the sprg selling ason. 80% of retailerbeat analyst expectations. auto sales are roaringng forward. chrysler up 40% for the month of february. ford up 14%, gm up 1% and toyota

up 12.4% higher, that's a pace of 15.1 million annual auto sales the best number since february of 2008. the intersection of politics, economics and business is a crowded corner and it grows more important all the time. one of the smartest guys in the room when it comes to all three is ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group. good to have you on the program. >> good to be here. >> let's start with the economy. fourth quarter gdp stronger than expected in the united states. the dow breaking through 13,000 and here we are talking about records. the nasdaq touchesing 300. is it time to feel better about things in the u.s. >> i think it is and not just because we are seeing better consumer confidence and unemployment broken through the numbers that six months ago people were saying we weren'n't going to hit but looking at the global environment, the things concerning ceos at the beginning of the year that could crimp the united states was the europeans falling apart.

i think looki out to europe right now that worst-case scenario is taken off of the agenda. the thing that is worrying us the next six months oil prices. that's whehere there is potenti to have an externality that could have a negative impact on the u.s. economy. >> we got another lending facility for the european central bank and that seems to be s stabilizing things. it is c creating that perceptio >> i think what we are seeing is if the germans in pushing as hard as they have on austerity it is not that they are going to make greece work but they are getting enough support from within germany and the northern ropeans as a whole to build toward some kind of fiscal compact. which means europe structurally works more effectively and combine that with more lending and you avoid the worse-case scenarios. europe stays together, the euro looks stronger and people are willing to invest again. >> the wild card for the u.s.

has been if europe accelerates to the down side that will spill over here. the chairman of the fed this week gave no hint of more quantitative easing. a lot of people were trying to parche his words when he spspok to see if we are going to get more stimulus from the fed. doesn't look like we are. >> with the leads you o offered from the top of the segment, there rant lot of folks in washington thahat are clamoring for additional stimulus. >> let's talk about the price of oil. you hit on an important point. you don't think that israel will attack iran. you don't think that that is going to create a problem for oil. tell me how you see the middle east working in the country? >> israel does not want to attack iran. they want us to think they do. that's a different story. they really want the united states to attack iran, but we don't want to which puts the israelis in to a country none drum. how do they get america to do their bidding? it ihard with this

administration. there is a the possibility through escalated tit for tat, blowing up israeli embassies and diplplomates, as that continues you can see them target american targets and the united states is drawn in. there is a preum around iran. it's because fes getting more dangerous between the israeli and iranians, even though i think it is highly unlike theically they will go after the ieian ran nuclear capacity. >> what is the negative impact to the u.s. economy? >> i think we are gets close. i think once you get past 120, 125 people will make different choices in how they feel about the american economy. i'm not an economist. i'm a political scientist. i'm worried about the spike not

the creeping. i'm worried if suddenly we have a real, a real belligerent impact that doesn't just hit israel and iran but starts to spill across the middle east. >> you are just back from asia, any other risks to the global economy? is china slowing down? >> no. china is doing well right now. the chininese government is ver much filling the gap that ests from the lack of export manufacturers for the chinese to the united states and in to europe. what i s see is the u.s./china relationship getting worse. the chinese had no problem vetoing the security council resolution before he came to the united states. i saw u.s. officials feel they have no influence on china on issues. d the chinese swing no capacity to shift their

production away from state-e-owd enterprises, 62% of the chinese economy today is state owned enterprises. they d don't run efficient ly. long-term they won't a model for growth for think the country but show no willingness orapacity to move away from them. it is an enormomous challenge. it has been a car with a massive engine driving down a straight road. the road has a big curve coming up we have no idea if they have a steering wheel and i'm skeptical. >> this will take a long time to transition. these are not easy issues when you are talking about an economy that has been driving a certain way for so many years. >> on this issue, i don't see the beginning of transition. i see them talking about it. i don't see them doing anything to prepare for it. a bank had a report that makes the same point but no evidence they are going to do it.

this year and next year i see strong chinese growth. lord knows we need thatn the rest of the term but long term no one is kicking the can further down the road than the chinese. >> thank you for joining us. up next, a look ahead at the super tuesday battle. and why your next job may be just another gig. surviving in the economic normal as an independent worker. we will look at how the stock market finished the week. back in a moment. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financncial advic. back then, he had something more important toto do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement plannnning for our r miliry, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values.

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the most definitive day yet of the 2012 primary season is coming up this week on super tuesday. voters in ten states go to to the polls. more delegates will be awarded

to candidates ththan any of the contests of the last two months combined. jim vandehei is with us. he is the executive editor of "politico." thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> 400 plus republican delegates at stake on tuesday out of 1,144 needed for nomination. how to you think thank things shake out? >> i think it is a big day for santorum. he has to show he can have more momentum and win more states. particularly ohio. i think if he can it will go all e way to the convention, i think there's no incentive to get out of the race. however, if mitt romney can win in ohio and can win some other states, nice bucket of states virginia which is a slam dunk fohim on super tuesday, i think it wl go a long way to convince republicans he is inevitable whether it will be that day or the next month or so. >> it seems that way. of course goverr romney won in

arizona and michigan this week. last week by three points in michigan where he had the support of college-educated, wealthier voters and senator santorum got the support of the making under $100,000 a year. what's your take on the distinction of the voters? how does i that impact the general election? there is a clear pattern in every stat so far that mitt romney does well with older voters, wealthy voters. where he struggles are with social conservatives and with those working-class republicans. that's where rick santorum has found his sweet spot, as you just described. i think that is problematic for mitt romney. he c can't just be the candidat of the wealthy, the candidate of the old. he has to show that he has some capacity to broaden the appeal of the republican party. remember, his hard-line position on immigration might be a great position to have with conservatives. it's not a great position to have with the hispanic community, and so many important

swing states. so he h a lot of baggage and liabilities that he needs to show he can overcome to broaden his appeal come the general election. i think that's why so many republicans like jeb bush and others are expressing concern about the tone of this campaign, about the issues that are being discussed at this campaign and the fact the parties seem so narrow. >> ohio's 66 delegates available on tuesday are getting a lot of attention and re than $3 million in advertising spending from governor romney. the political action committee supporting him. this part of the country has been hit hard economically. what do the working class voters want to hear? ? >> i think this is what rick santorum's initial message, where he is focused on manufacturing and the republican party is committed to helping working-class voters not just republicans could resonate. early poll ing suggests he is doing well in ohio. it is pretty narrow. i think it will be a two-person

race between rick santorum and mitt romney. and the question is if rick santorum has enough money and time to pull away in that state. if he does, it would be huge for him. he would be able to say i'm a candate performing well in the midwest, really well in important swing stes. i think at will resonate with establishedd republicans who ar skeptical of him as a general election candidate. i think if you are going to watch one state for super esday, don't pay attention to anything other than ohio. >> what about the jobs creating policies of the candidates. it's frustrating we're not sticking to the issues. where are are their plans in terms of creating jobs? >> the truth is, if you put ron paul to the sidede, because he a distinct ideology and libertarian, most republicans are in the same place as far as they want to change and simplify the tax code, reduce corporate tax rate to 25%, lower and simplify individual tax rates. one big distinction has been

rick santorum's focus on given preferential tax treatment to manufacting jobs. in places like ohio, places like his home state of pennsylvania, i think we even saw this in michigan it is a pretty powerful message and resonates with working-class voter that state after ate, particularly in the midwest are saying weike rick santorum more than we like mitt romney. >> the idea of lower taxes as a way to create jobs obviously very much talked about. let's talk about this tax reform speech from governor romneney i michigan on tuesday night and across the board 20% tax rate, setting the corporatete ratd at 25%. can he sell that economic message beyond the corporate world? >> i think so. one, there's not a lot of specificity on what he would do wiwith spending and entitltleme programs but the tax policyy itself, i thk he could sell that. i think most americans are open to tax reform. something that simplifies the

cocode an most americans appreciate theorporate tax rate is higher here than other countries which can hurt the growth of corporations and it hurts job creation. the trick is finding stom definition to mitt romney beyond just i'm a candidate who's inevitable, the candidate that can win. i don't think that anyone seeing m as inevitablee and i don't know that any republican thinks he can beat barack obama right now. this race is so much different today than it wawas a month ago. a month ago, barack obama was very beatable. the economy looked in more trouble a month ago than it does today. mitt romney had more mone had all of this momentum. now suddenly barack obama looks strong. he scares repepublicans. it's the reasonon that if you wk around washingn everybody's talking about how, how doe get another candidate in the rarace? can get jeb bush or mitch daniels because they don't think that mitt romney has the winning formula, the winning message and i think most importantly the

winning personality. people forget he is essentially a professional presidential candidate. he's been doing this for five years some if he still hasn't figured out how to connect,t, h do you pitch yourself as part of a narrative of why you should be president and how you would change the direction of the country, it is hard to imagine that he will suddenly find the formula. this is a smart guy who du his home work and is what he is what you see will be what he is the remainder of the campaign assuming he were to win the republican nomination. >> it is important to note that things change quickly. so we wilbe watching. jim vandehei from politico. up next on the "the wall up next on the "the wall st how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for theieir clients' f futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning.

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welcome back. working 9:00 to 5:00 maybe a thing of the past as more active american workers leave traditionajobs in favor of freelancing, consulting and being their own bosses. more than one-third of the american rk force is considered independent. joining me is sara horowitz, executive editor t the freelancs union representing freelance workers in all 50 states. one in three workers are what yocall contingent 42 million freelancers or contractors or as you say independents. tell me about the growing trend. >> it says that we are in a gig economy. people are working from project

to project and job to job and not just one job for 25 years. we know that just by looking at the way we work, our friends, our family,ing our colleagugues >> i gus you have real independence. what are the benefits and challenges of flexible workers for the companies that hire them and for the workers? >> for thecompanies, what has often spent ty can make people flexible and not provide benefits, which is not always a good thing. what it means is we can have a flexible work force where we ha benefits, pension and health insurance and unemployment system and looking to make it fair for workers, the me way that we did in the new deal in the 1930s.s. every time we see a change with we have to think of how do we go back and start to build a new kind of sety net. >> unemployment right now at 8.3%. it seems like things are improving, jobs market, little byby littttle. what do you thinkthe numbers indicate right now? >> what i think is the big indicator is the temp jobs.

we looked at twhapd the beginning of the recession. and said these arere the only js being created. i think what will not see is the temp jobs will go down and everyone will go back but that those temp jobs are independent jobs people are being leased through different companies, they are part time, self employed and that's the number that i think we need to look at. >> what aren't we doing in support of this group? >> one o of the things you will find shocking is we don't count this new work force. here we are having this huge number of people working in this way and right now the president has a small piece in his budget to count this work force. the otheis it is a very entrepreneurial and interesting work force. let's look at new forms of cess to capital. make it if you are going to work in this way there are ways you can grow your business and it doesn't have to be millllion d $2 million amount amounts but 50,000, 25,000, 5,000. this is the next economy. we first need to recognize it and help to bud it.

>> you started by saying, look. this is a gig economy. how do you sustain a careeeer wh string of gigs? >> yeah. it is not jus a stringg of gigs. it's really a web, a network of relationships. the most important thing anyone can do is to start to build the network of people, your friends your family,y, the people that u worked with. if you are graduating from college, start to recognizeze y have already started to build the network. if you have i you have been lai off and over 55 that's the same thing. it is different than just thinking of getting a job and a paycheck. >> of course the benefits are so important. you recently were awarded $340 million to create a new non-profit hlth insurance co-op. lk to us about that. the union has been offering some version of la a la cart health insurance? >> freelancers are architecting this nenew way and whats exciting out of health reform is

there is significant capital to show how you can have non-profit health insurance and that's where yoyou are containing cost and giving people valu we are trying to show that frlancers, if you design it r them, you design it for the whole country. we will start in new york, new jersey and oregon with this. >> really good stuff.f. good to have you on the program. >> thank you so much. >> sara horowitz joining us. up next on the "the wall street journal report" we will look at the news that wl have an impact on your money. and love anduck for le. an iconic american hotel offer a special sale. e right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from prressive. ready, aim, sa! ooh, i forgot my phone! e "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. ♪ ♪ here we are, me andnd you

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freight rail. it attracted large companies, like vestas. we built four factories to make turbine blades, towers, and generators. creating over seventeen hundred jobs. then suppliers, stores, more companies followed, creating more jobs. economists call that the ripple effect. i call it e e the freight rail effect. freight rail concts every corner of america, bringing jobs and economic groh along for the ride. visit freightrailworks.org.

for more check out the website wsjr.cnbc.com and hope you llow me on twit and google+. look for @maria bartiromo. now look at the stories coming up in the week aad that may impact your money this week. on noend institute for supply management services index gives us a glimpse in to activity in the nonmanufacturing part s of theconomy. super tuesday, voters head to t the polls in ten states cast ballots in the presidential primary. on friday the latest jobs report including ththe unemployment ra and the number of jobs the economy lost or gained in the month of february. and finally, how's this for a cheap date? wall dor the astoria is charges guests $16 for the stay. iselle and joan scschwartz spent their wedding night at the waldorf and back then it was $16.80 for the room and 30 cents

for a phone call. they havave a policy of chargin the original room rate to returning guests marking a milestone. this weekend they celebrate their 60th anniversary like a couple of newlyweds. rooms at the waldorf start at $319 a night t you can't put a price on true love, can you. thank you for joining us. my guest next week, sir richard brann, virgin group founder. he will be joining us. keep it here where wall street meets